State Department of Agriculture and other agencies take hit as general fund shrivels

By MITCH LIES

Capital Press

SALEM -- The Oregon Department of Agriculture will use fees to cover some of the $400,000 it will lose from its general fund operating budget as a result of lower state revenue projections.

State economists on Aug. 26 announced state revenues were down $373 million from earlier estimates.

The shortfall comes on top of a $577 million state budget shortfall announced in June. In all, the state is short more than $1.2 billion from projected revenues since the start of the 2009-11 budget cycle. The state general fund budget for the two years is $14.2 billion.

ODA's share of the cuts tops $1.2 million.

The department said Aug. 27 it plans to shift some budget responsibilities from general funds to fees to cover the current shortfall.

"Fees will be covering larger portions of several programs," ODA Assistant Director Lauren Henderson said. "Our plan is to continue to protect our core programs and (their) staff."

The quarterly forecast was the ninth straight revenue forecast that showed revenues that are less than previously anticipated.

"We're not going to be able to keep saying that too much longer," Henderson said. "This puts us at more than $1 million in reductions in just the last two forecasts."

At Oregon Water Resources Department, staff reductions appear to be imminent. The department is expecting a revenue reduction of $600,000 under across-the-board agency cuts.

"We may have to start moving into options we weren't anticipating making until the 2011-13 biennium, and those are cuts in staff," department spokeswoman Brenda Bateman said.

The department's projected revenue is down $2.3 million since the start of the current biennium.

How the state budget works

The "all funds budget" -- which pays for all state government functions, including the bulk of education costs -- was $51.2 billion in 2007-09 and increased to $55.9 billion in 2009-11, a 9 percent increase, according to Sunshine Review, a nonprofit watchdog organization.

However, the general fund, which is part of the all funds budget, decreased from $15.1 billion for 2007-09 to $14.2 billion in 2009-11. The general fund is money from individual and corporate income taxes and the state lottery. That income has dropped significantly during the current recession.

-- Sunshine Review